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World War II campaigns -- D-Day civilian attitudes in Normandy
D-Day: Normandy -- Civilian Attitudes
Figure 1.--Here 5 days after D- Day Americasn GIs are moving ghriugh villages in Normandy. The press caption read, "French Civilians Welcome American Soldiers: A French woman with her bady smiles a ewelcome to an American soldier who pauses in his advance through a liberated town in Normandy to greet the mothr and child. A young French boy leans over the wall of his home to watch Allied troops marching inland from their expanded beachheads on the northrern coast of France. By June 10, 1944, the fifth day of the Allied ground offensive against the Germans in Western Europe, 14 French towns have been liberated from the emneny and Americam British and Canadian troops had punched though the formidable coastal fortifications of the German Atlantic Wall. This is a radiophoto sent from London to the U.S."
Normandy was not affected by the German invasion (1940)/ These battles were mostly fought in the north. Then for 4 years as the world swirled around France, Normandy remaineda largely untouched by the War. The Germans were exploting the Frencvh economy, caising severe shortahes, especially food shortages. Normandy was a largely rural, farming area and thus best situated to in such a situation. It was the peopole in the cities that suffered most. Life for people in Normandy thus was little changed. Although located on the Channel, they could not have been further from the War. There was little or no Allied bombing. The British focus were on the Atlantic ports to the west on the Brittany Peninsula. . And German behavior was largely correct--none of the barabaric attrocities perpetrated in the East. (Thisd chasnged when the fightening in Normandy began.) Than all of a sudden, this basically backwater became for several weeks the eye of the storm. The full force of the emmense Allied coiled spring was unleased on Normandy. And the Germams began conentrating poweeful forces of their owm, although they Panzer division in olaxe at ythe Pas de Calais. Allied Fortitude had cincinced the Germans that ythe main unvasiin would come there, the dhortedst route to Germany. Unfortunstely for the cibilkisns in Normandy, there were no smart weapons. The forces involved were massive. If the Germans or especially the Americans (because they possed such overwhealming fire power), if they wanted to take a posiition, the genereal approach was to bomb or shell it to smitherines. This ultimately caused huge damage and civilian casualties. We have seen some authors saying that the people in Normandy were furtious at the Allies. We are not sure how wisespread this attitude was in Normandy. We suspoect it had to do to what extent their family or farm was affected. In the modern era we find a lot of essentially anti-American, wole historians entent on paintiung a dark picture of the American war effort. There must have been Normans furious about the damage and loss of life. How this affected their view of the Allies is difficult to assess. A reader writes, "Never read encounteres a discussion how they felt. I suspect tht as you saym it is the woke croud expressing the all too prevalent anti-American bias." The photograohic record suggests that the Normans welcomed the Allies as gallant liberators. Perhaps not like in Paris, but Normanmdy was a rural area. The largest city was Caen which was absolutely devestated.
